Manu: DPOY should be voted on by players

Tim Duncan’s sixth-place finish in the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year voting sparked debate in the Spurs’ locker room about the difficulty media members face in choosing a winner for that award.

Duncan blocked shots at a career-high per-minute rate and had the second-highest average of his 16-year career at 2.65 rejections per game. He has never finished higher than third in voting. (Grizzlies center Marc Gasol was announced the winner Wednesday.)

Manu Ginobili offered a solution: Let the players vote for an award that is nearly impossible to quantify.

“It is the toughest award they give away because players don’t vote,” Ginobili said. “It’s the player that (goes) against other players who know. Sometimes the best rebounder is not the best defender; or the best in steals is not a great defender. He just gambles a lot.

“It could be (an award for players to choose), but it’s been going on for so many years. It’s not that I’m complaining, but probably we do know better than the media.”

Duncan shrugged off the fact he never has won the award. Worse, he said, was the fact Bruce Bowen never won the award during his days spearheading the Spurs’ defense. “Now that was messed up,” he said.

Ginobili believed Duncan deserved a higher finish than sixth.

“What I know is that when we have him we are one thing and when we don’t we are another thing,” he said. “It is because of his presence, his smartness, his deflections, being in position, things like that.”

Happy for Brown: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was outraged when his good friend and former assistant, Mike Brown, was fired by the Lakers after just five games this season. He was thrilled Brown had been re-hired by the Cavaliers.

Popovich also praised Cavs owner Dan Gilbert for not being too proud to bring back Brown after firing him in 2010.

“I think it’s great,” Popovich said. “It’s a courageous move on the part of the owner. Not too many people recognize a decision and do something to reverse it. We’re usually too proud to do that as human beings. I thought it was pretty courageous on his part and pretty wise, because Mike’s a hell of a coach.”

Legendary support: Criticized much of the season by a segment of Los Angeles fans, coach Mike D’Antoni got some recent support from Lakers legend Jerry West.

“I think there’s been far too much criticism of Mike,” West told ESPNLA radio. “I think it’s grossly unfair to him. He inherited a team that had a bunch of injuries. He inherited a team without a training camp. I think he’s done a nice job, to be honest with you.”